Revocations bill moves forward

The Legislation mosaic from inside the Capitol dome in Madison. Photograph by Margo Kirchner.

The Wisconsin State Capitol. Photograph by Margo Kirchner.

By Alexandria Staubach
 
The Wisconsin Legislature last week moved forward on increasingly punitive measures that increase the likelihood of incarceration, ignoring community calls for systems and programs that decrease recidivism and address root causes of crime.
 
Senate Bill 93/Assembly Bill 85 predominated at the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety’s 4½-hour public hearing on April 1.
 
The committee has not yet voted on the bill. If it passes out of committee, it would then go to the full Senate, possibly in the next floor session period, which runs April 15-25. The bill has already passed in the Assembly
 
If enacted, the bill would require the Wisconsin Department of Corrections to recommend revocation of probation or parole when an individual is charged with (not convicted of) a new crime.
 
Law enforcement groups unanimously supported the bill at the hearing, while groups with ties to reentry services and justice reform unanimously opposed it.
 
Committee member Sen. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee) expressed concern over the potential costs of the legislation after one of the bill’s lead sponsors, Rep. Brent Jacobson (R-Mosinee), highlighted a fiscal planning estimate by the Wisconsin Department of Administration that as many as 47% of individuals currently on supervision could be subject to revocation if the law is enacted.
 
The fiscal estimate anticipates that the legislation could eventually increase the prison population by 4,600 people, requiring $245.7 million in additional spending by the DOC.
 
“It's an admission in itself that we have an issue,” said Jacobson. He said that while “impossible” to quantify, recidivism also has comparable community costs.
 
While the DOC did not provide oral testimony at the hearing, it opposes the legislation, which it views as removing its discretion.
 
Cost wasn’t the only hot topic. Deep frustration with repeat offenders squared off with the real-life ramifications for everyone on supervision.
 
“It takes an act of Congress to get somebody revoked in our state,” said Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt. He has heard from those on supervision that “probation and parole is a joke because I can do whatever I want on it,” he said.
 
On the opposing side, Marianne Olson, operations director of Ex-incarcerated Persons Organizing, said, “I live in a world where not everyone gets along, and even being in the wrong place at the wrong time can lead to charges.” Olson is currently serving more than 20 years of supervision after being sentences for nonviolent offenses.  
 
She said that “revocation should never be based on mere allegations,” and that studies show “supportive interventions, not harsh penalties, promote lasting public safety.”
 
When a person is revoked from community supervision, they serve the remainder of their sentence incarcerated – even if probation was ordered in the first instance.
 
Speakers also shared concerns about revoking individuals without due process.
 
Hearings on revocations are presided over by an administrative law judge, and due process protections are relaxed.
 
“There is a concern for me” said Drake. “If someone is innocent until proven guilty, they should be treated as such.”
 
“Senate Bill 93 does not just abandon the values of rehabilitation and reintegration,” but “it erodes due process,” said Sean Wilson, senior director of organizing and partnerships at Dream.org.
 
“We cannot continue to double down on harmful polies that have pushed our correction system to a breaking point,” said Amanda Merkwae, ACLU of Wisconsin’s advocacy director. She shared statistics indicating that Wisconsin exceeds the national average regarding incarceration rates and revocations are a driving force behind that incarceration. Merkwae said revocations for rule violations and new charges “accounted for 60% of the total 8,155 new prison admissions in 2024” and that the overwhelming majority of cases recommended for revocation hearings result in incarceration.
 
Shannon Ross, whose recent work includes helping usher in a bill creating what he calls a “one stop for reentry services,” shared his personal anxiety on supervision.
 
Ross, successful founder of the reentry focused nonprofit The Community, which employs seven people, said he has 11½ years of supervision left on his own sentence. “At any given moment an allegation can send me back to prison,” and “it doesn’t matter the things I’ve done.”
 
“People who have been out for so long in Wisconsin, the way we’ve structured our system, don’t have the same ability to stay in society and avoid going back in,” Ross said.
 
“This is like writing business law without talking to business owners,” said Ross.
 
His testimony was followed by others with real-life supervision stories.